It Came From The Rabid Fangirl
by The Providence Crow
Summary: Silent HillStorm Hawks crossover, because someone had to be sick enough to do it.  Cracktastic, but does actually contain plot, so if you're looking for random silliness, this isn't the fic for you.  Remember, crack kills, so read at your own risk.
1. Chapter 1

**IT CAME FROM THE RABID FANGIRL**

SUMMARY: The Condor is traveling through uncharted territory (curse you, Piper, and your desire to update your maps!) and discovers a previously unknown Terra shrouded in fog and darkness. Aerrow and Radarr take their skimmer out to look for a clear landing area when OH NOES! DARK ACE HAS BEEN FOLLOWING THE CONDOR AND NOW HE'S AFTER US happens. Battle ensues, but is interrupted by a... tall, giant knife wielding pyramid-man? Both vehicles crash land, injuring the riders. Things look pretty doomy...

PAIRINGS: DA/Aerrow, Stork+The Concept Of Impending Doom, implied Starling/Piper

Stork clutched the Condor's steering apparatus and tapped one foot nervously.   "Ohhh, Piper?"

The navigator looked up from where she was busy scribbling notes and plotting coordinates.   "Yeah?"

"Remind me again why we're traveling through-" And here Stork paused to suck in a deep breath and allow his eye to twitch dramatically, "_Uncharted territory_?"

Piper rolled her eyes at the Merb's theatrics.   "Stork, we've been over this. I'd like to update my maps of the area. It's relatively unknown, and we may be able to use it as a strategic advantage against the Cyclonians."

"But there's _nothing out here_!" Whined Finn. "Why don't we just update your maps of Tropica, instead?"

Piper suppressed a growl. There were days when these people made her borderline _homicidal_.   "We've _been_ to Tropica, Finn, and its terrain is already _very well documented_."

"Yeah, well, it could have changed, right? I mean, you don't know... it could have formed...new...sand. Don't you want to see if they have new sand? Besides, there's nothing here but mist! I haven't even seen any Terras, yet!"

"It's really pretty mist, though..." Said Junko, who was happily tracing designs in the fogged up windows of the aircraft.

Finn scowled at him. "Tropica's prettier," He said, flatly. "This is just _boring_. It's no fair! Piper _always_ gets to do what she wants, and she _always_ wants to do something lame."

Piper looked downright murderous and advanced ever so slightly towards the blond.   Seeing this, Aerrow decided that as team leader, it was his job to keep Piper from eviscerating Finn with a compass, and stepped between the two.

"Alright guys, everybody just calm down. All Piper wants to do is take a quick survey of the area, check out any Terras there may be, and make a quick note of whatever locals we find. We'll be in and out, right, Piper?"

Piper nodded, relieved at Aerrow's understanding and exasperated with Finn and Stork. "Yes, _exactly_! That's what I've been trying to _tell_ them!"

Finn scowled and piped down, but Stork remained unconvinced.

Moodily, he flipped his hair and turned back to the steering column.   "Say what you want," he muttered, "But my 'Imminent Doom' senses are tingling like crazy. And I'm developing _another_ rash. I always get rashes when something doomy is about to happen. Heed my hives, people! Heed their warning!"

Aerrow blinked, his expression that of a man who has just been mildly traumatized. "Er...okay...thank you, Stork. I'll...be sure to take that under consideration."

Stork was about to add something further when Junko exclaimed, "Hey, look! A Terra! It's a _big_ one!"

"It's an _ugly_ one," commented Finn. "It's all bare rock and rusty metal and broken down buildings. And is that smoke I see? You know what smoke _means_, don't you? It means something's on _fire_. I don't know about you guys, but fire is something I generally prefer to avoid, what with the burning and the pain and all. And there's _still_ all this stupid mist! You can barely even see it! I say we skip this one."

Piper frowned at him. "This could be an ideal place to set up an _ambush_, Finn. Think--- we could lure the Cyclonians in, disappear into the mist, drop behind them, and pick them off one by one! All with virtually no risk!"

The wingman crossed his arms and gave her a look of utter disinterest. "Great. Fantastic. Since you've already got it all figured out, does that mean we can go now?"

"_NO_. I still need to investigate the terrain and geographical features. Besides, aren't you at all curious about the buildings? Or the fire?"

Finn thought about it for a minute. "Uhhhhhh...no. Not at all."

Piper scowled and turned to Stork. "We need to land. Now."

Stork glared at her over his shoulder. "Oh, _sure_. I'll just ease 'er down on the lovely landing strip that's been prepared for us. You know, the one made of _broken concrete and jagged, rusted metal_. After all, what are a few gaping rifts in the hull of the Condor?"

Aerrow sighed and held up his hand. "Okay, look, Radarr and I will take a Skimmer and scout out a clear landing area. We'll come back and lead you to it, Piper can get her information, and then we can _go_."

-------------------------DOOM--------------------------

Aerrow eased the Skimmer between the debris and rubble, squinting to see through what they had originally assumed was mist, but was actually ash. Weird.

"Geez, this place sure could use a maid. Or a HAZMAT team..."

Radarr nodded his assent, looking nervously over his shoulder at the Condor, which was rapidly being consumed by a shroud of the floating gray particles.

Aerrow looked back too, cutting the engine and hovering above the ground.  "You worried we're gonna get lost?"

Radarr nodded again, giving a small, anxious whine.

"It's okay, buddy. We're gonna be---what is _that_?"

It looked as though a piece of the Condor's shadow had disengaged itself and was making it's way rapidly towards Aerrow and Radarr.

Aerrow turned the Skimmer around and inched closer to get a better look.

He got one.

"Dark Ace. Of _course_. Because that's just _exactly_ what I need today. Lovely."

He sighed and turned to Radarr.   "You know what this means? This means we have to try to lose him in unfamiliar terrain with almost zero visibility, get back to the Condor without him noticing, and then get the _Condor_ out of here without him noticing."   Aerrow sighed again and ran one hand through his unruly red hair. Then he grinned.

"This is gonna be _awesome_."   Aerrow gunned the engine and behind him, the Dark Ace did the same, catching up rapidly.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Sky Knight?" The older man shouted over the roar of the engines.

"Not long, enough, Dark Ace!" And just like that, the time for talk was over.

Dark Ace smirked and drew his weapon, firing an energy blast at Aerrow, who dodged and banked sharply behind a building.   The boy could hear the engine of Ace's Switchblade Elite snarl as he flawlessly made the sudden turn, still in hot pursuit and---

There was a screech of metal and a shout of pain, and suddenly, the only engine Aerrow heard was his own.

There was still a lot of screaming, though.

Aerrow actually stopped in mid-maneuver and slowly, cautiously, turned around.

A huge shaft of metal pierced the wing of Dark Ace's vehicle. It had also rammed itself through his shoulder, sticking out of his back and nearly severing his left arm, effectively turning the man into a shish kabob.

Non-lethal, but undoubtedly very painful, and possibly crippling. After a second or two, he realized that it wasn't just a shaft of metal.

It was a knife.

A really _big freaking knife_ that was being wielded by what appeared to be a _walking pyramid_.

Oooooooookay...

He turned to Radarr, who frantically made gestures that said they needed to _leave right now_, but Aerrow shook his head.

"No can do, buddy. We're the Storm Hawks, and the Storm Hawks don't let people get eaten by scary, walking architectural structures. Not even the bad guys."

Radarr whimpered, but prepared for battle.

It wasn't much of a fight.

Aerrow zoomed in, meaning to ram the Pyramid-thing with his Skimmer, but the creature seemed to sense him. It gave its great knife a quick jerk, dislodging its captive and sending the Switchblade crashing to the ground, trapping its rider beneath it.

Aerrow winced as he saw Dark Ace's bloody hand twitch beneath the wing. The hand then formed a fist and flipped off the attacker. Aerrow smirked. Yeah, good old Dark Ace.

What a card.

Unfortunately, the pyramid's attention was on Aerrow, and so it missed the little display of defiance. Swinging it's knife in an arc with one hand, it sliced off the front half of the skimmer.

The other hand smashed into the side of Aerrow's face, knocking him off the wreck and into a wall.

Aerrow actually heard his skull fracture when it connected with the brick. He had just enough time to think, _I hope it doesn't get Radarr_, and then his world went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Radarr leapt off the skimmer with no time to spare—the two halves of the ruined vehicle hit the ground with a grinding squeal that made the animal's fur stand on end. He braced himself for impact and rolled as he hit the ground, landing a good twenty feet or so to the right of Aerrow.

Shaking himself off, he scurried under a slab of concrete that jutted out at an angle from the ground. The pyramid man was shuffling towards the unconscious Aerrow, dragging its bloody weapon on the ground behind it, leaving a trail of gore. Radarr knew that he _absolutely could not_ allow this thing to get close to his friend.

That meant somebody had to distract it.

Radarr didn't even think twice about it. Darting out from his hiding place, he quickly closed the gap between himself and the monster, leaping onto its leg and sinking his teeth deep into the pyramid's thigh.

He had to fight the urge to spit it out--it tasted like rust and rot, and who knows what else. There wasn't much blood, not nearly as much as there should have been. It was thick and sludgy, and it ran cold in Radarr's mouth.

It was like biting into something long dead.

The thing didn't even notice right away. It just kept trudging forward a few paces before eventually halting. The red, rusted pyramid slowly tilted towards its assailant, joints creaking and tendons groaning as it did so. It seemed to stare at the mission specialist, although if it had eyes, they certainly weren't visible to Radarr.

Okay, so Plan A didn't really seem to be working. Time to switch to Plan B.

Abandoning his attempt to hamstring his opponent, Radarr decided to try drawing the pyramid man's attention elsewhere, someplace away from himself and Aerrow. His mind raced frantically, trying to think of something, when he heard a rustle and a pained groan off to his far left.

Letting go of the thigh he'd had hold of, Radarr swiveled his head to the source of the sounds. Dark Ace was still trapped under his Switchblade Elite, and was struggling to free himself.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

Radarr took off in Dark Ace's direction. Pyramid Head looked at the scurrying animal, looked back at Aerrow, and, seeming to decide that a chase would be more interesting, followed Radarr.

When Dark Ace saw both Radarr and the monster that had just sliced open his shoulder heading rapidly towards him, he was, needless to say, less than pleased.

---------------------DOOM----------------------

"There is _no way_ it takes _this long_ to find a landing area," grumbled Finn, who was engaged in (and losing) a game of Go-Fish against Junko. "Got any three's?"

"Go fish. Do you think something happened to them?" The Wallop looked up from his cards to glance questioningly Piper.

"I'm sure they're fine," she said. "There's a lot of rubble out there, Junko. They're probably just having a hard time finding a clearing large enough for the Condor."

"Or, they could have run into Murk Raiders. I wouldn't be surprised to see them around here…" Stork trailed off and made a sweeping gesture that encompassed the bleak, ominous landscape he was staring out at. "Also, this mist is rolling in pretty fast and heavy. They might have crashed. Or maybe they were attacked by zombies. This looks like a good place for zombies. Unicorns, too. Those can be downright _nasty_."

Piper blinked. "I don't know about everything else you just said, but you're right about the mist. We can't even see the ground." She walked over to a window and pressed her face against it, trying to see.

"Maybe we should bring the Condor down a little? Y'know, just enough to maybe catch a glimpse of Aerrow and Radarr?" Junko shuffled his cards, re-arranging them nervously. "Got any queens, Finn?"

"You're cheating. Somehow, you're _cheating_." Finn muttered, handing over two of his cards. "You're right though. It can't hurt to at least be able to see the ground, can it?"

Stork frowned. "I don't know…I _really _don't like this place. I don't want to get any closer than we have to. And I _**really **_don't like the idea of landing here. I think maybe we should just wait for Aerrow to get back."

"If we can't see Aerrow, then he can't see _us_." Piper pointed out. "We probably should go lower. They could get lost down there, and then they really _could_ get hurt."

Stork chewed his lip for a minute, then nodded. As much as he absolutely disliked the idea of getting closer to this Terra, he disliked the idea of Aerrow and Radarr getting hurt because of his paranoia even more. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Hang on people, we're going in."

------------------DOOM------------------

Ace redoubled his efforts to crawl out from under his Switchblade, but between his severely wounded shoulder and the ribs that had been cracked when the aforementioned Switchblade had landed on him, he was getting nowhere fast. Not to mention the fact that every time he moved, he coughed up blood. He suspected that at least one of the broken ribs was puncturing a lung.

Yeah, things were looking up.

The vehicle creaked and pressed down upon him a Radarr climbed over it, causing the cockpit to dig into his chest. He bit back a scream, nearly choking on the blood that was forcing its way up his throat. The pressure on his chest was suddenly relieved as the Pyramid Head arrived at its destination and lifted the wreckage up off of Dark Ace with one hand.

The fallen warrior stared up at the seven-foot tall horror that loomed over him. He scanned the area quickly for his sword, finally finding it resting at least a meter behind the monster, where it was doing Ace a hell of a lot of good.

Not that he would have been able to use it, anyway.

It was taking all of his energy just to stay conscious, as the blood loss was affecting him rather heavily. Pyramid head raised its weapon above its head, and before it could bring it down on Dark Ace, there was a flash of purple light.

For a moment, everything was still, and then the top half of the monster's body slowly slid backwards off of its bottom, neatly sliced in two.

It had been years since he'd seen that move, but he certainly knew it when he saw it. The Lotus Wheel, the old woman's signature. No way. No _fucking _way he was that lucky. Or unlucky.

But now he could actually see her walking towards him. The first detail he could make out was the arms—all six of them—hanging at her sides, curling henna tattoos creeping over brown, leathery skin. The black hair was pulled tightly into a bun, with more grey than he remembered it having. As she got closer, he could see the lines in her face had increased as well, and by the time she stood over him, he could see that she was surprised as he was.

"Mamaji," he rasped, blood trickling from the sides of his mouth. "What's a nice old-timer like you doing in a place like this?"

She shook her head slowly, still staring at him in disbelief. "Young man," she said, and her voice was like he remembered it, gravelly and shaped by that unique Terra Taj accent. "You appear to be in seriously deep shit."

Ace laughed which hurt, but he didn't care. He cracked a bloody grin. "Yes, I noticed. You wouldn't be here to rescue me, would you? Not that I need it."

Mamaji gave a small smile in return. "I suppose I might as well. Although I must say, I think I prefer the old days when you would just come to me with something simple, like a scraped knee."

"I'm pretty sure I've got one of those, too." He said, and then the coughing began in earnest, and Ace was no longer able to talk.

----------------DOOM-----------------

There was a terrible grating sound, and the Condor lurched forward with a sickening jolt.

"What the heck was _that_?!?" Yelped Finn, watching in dismay as his cards flew from his hand and onto the floor.

"I…I think something just rammed the Condor!" Cried Stork, who was desperately pulling up on the steering.

Piper whipped her head around to look at him. "What do you mean, 'rammed the Condor'? There's nobody else out---" The Condor lurched towards the ground again, and before anyone could ay anything, there was a horrible, roaring screech form outside the ship, and a shape slowly moved into view of the side windows.

Junko was the first to speak. "Piper, what…_what_ _is that_?" Piper stared out the window horrified as everyone else. She'd never seen anything like what she was looking at now. Its general shape was that of a pterodactyl, but it had legs like a man, and its skin was discolored and rotted looking. And the head…

The head was disproportionately large, but more disturbingly, it seemed to be made of _worms_. The entire crew watched in frozen terror as the thin swooped closer and rammed the Condor again, forcing it even lower and ripping open the hull on building. Stork gritted his teeth.

"Everybody, hold on to something."

**Hokay, so! That's chapter two, I guess. If you want to see the thing that attacks the Condor, just do a google image search for "Silent Hill Night Flutter". I described it as best a could, but as anyone whose played the game will tell you, Silent hill monsters are not easily detailed. **

**Also, in case you were wondering, Terra Taj is the Atmos version of India. Sorry it took so long to get this up, but I was on vacation, and….yeah. Also, I'm sure some of you are going: "FTW, What's with the OC?" I'M SORRY. I hate writing OC's, I really do, but I kind of need them in order to make this fic work. You'll see why in later chapters. Also, I'm trying to give Ace a back story, and since we know nothing about him, this means I'm going to have to pull stuff out of my ass--like OC's. Sucks, I know, but it's all I've got to work with.**


	3. Chapter 3

The Condor's collision with the ground was a particularly violent one. It sent the crew hurtling to the front of the ship, wrecked the navigation and steering, and utterly destroyed the hull. The front windshield shattered, spraying glass in a glittering shower and bloodying the four people inside, and to top it off, the furnace compacted, destroying both the fuel crystals and the ships ability to process them.

The Night Flutter circled once, briefly surveyed the wreckage, (which, as planned, had been brought down in front of the old school building) and flew off. Its job was over—now it was time to return to its master and let the dogs play _their_ part.

-------------------DOOM--------------------

Mamaji shook her head as she looked over Ace's injuries. "How's your breathing, boy?"

Ace dragged a ragged breath of air from his lungs. "_Bad,"_he wheezed. "And stop calling me 'boy'. I'm an adult, you know." He tried to sigh and ended up coughing, painfully, at that. "_Please_ tell me Nicolai is with you. And healing crystals. _Lots_ of them."

"Fortunately for you, I have both. And I'll call you 'boy' if I want to, _boy_. That's my _right_." She told him, prodding his shoulder wound with one finger and making him wince.

He remembered her doing the same thing when he was a child, always investigating his injuries by poking to see where it hurt. Actually, now that he thought about it, his mother used to do that, too. He wondered if she'd picked that particular habit up from Mamaji, or if it was something that all females instinctively did.

"What did you do, rub filth into this?" Mamaji snorted, as though it was Ace's fault that he was stabbed with a huge, grimy, rusted knife. As she continued to man-handle his injuries, she mentioned casually, "Oh, and in case you were wondering, the rest of my squadron is here, too."

He looked up at her, incredulity written across his face. "Really, now? I'd have thought at least _one_ of you old coots would be dead already. Where are they?"

"The Church." She caught his look of utter confusion and added, "You'll see. It's the only safe place on this miserable Terra. Speaking of which, I'll need to get you there quickly. You're losing a _rather_ lot of blood." She turned away from him and looked out at where she'd left her ride. "Just sit tight while I bring the Dragonfly over here. You are _amazingly_ lucky. I was doing a food run, so there's a makeshift cart attached to the back that may be big enough to carry you in. When we get to the Church, Nicolai can patch you up and—"

"Don't forget the kid."

Mamaji whipped her head around to look at him. "Kid? There's a _child_ with you?"

Dark Ace shifted as best he could, trying to see where that damn red-head had landed. "Sort of. He's not 'with me', _per se_. And I don't know if he's necessarily a _child_, but he should be over in _that_ direction." Ace jerked his head in the direction of the wall Aerrow had collided with. From his position on the ground, he couldn't tell exactly where he was, but Mamaji spotted him right away.

Quickly crossing the distance with long, hurried strides, she had bent over the boy and was reaching out to touch him with one of her many hands when she found herself suddenly confronted by an angry blue…cat/weasel/monkey/rabbit. Thing.

The old woman leaned back on her heels as Radarr stood protectively over his friend, snarling quite viciously. Holding all six arms outspread in an open-palmed "I come in peace" sort of gesture, she waited for a moment or two before saying softly, "Come, now, no need for that nonsense. I promise you, my only wish is to help."

Radarr looked pointedly over at Dark Ace, with whom the stranger had just been conversing, and snarled louder, making it quite clear that anyone who was chummy with the bad guys would _not _be coming near Aerrow.

Mamaji glanced over her shoulder at the wounded man behind her. "Funny, " she said, dryly. "It doesn't seem to be terribly fond of you."

Dark Ace snorted from his spot on the ground. "No, I don't suppose he would be."

"Who are they? Friends of yours?"

There was a long silence before Ace answered, "They're Storm Hawks."

Mamaji stiffened and stilled, going dead silent. Her mouth drawn into a disapproving frown, she ground out tersely, "You're here to kill him?"

"No. No, not to kill him, although I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was what he _thought_."

The old woman stared at him, still frowning. "Well," she said, slowly, "If you don't want to kill him, what _do _you want with him?"

There was another pause.

"To play," he said.

--------------------DOOM--------------------

Finn was the first one to recover. Rising carefully to his feet, he shook glass and debris from his body and briefly looked himself over. He had plenty of cuts and bruises, but nothing too serious, though he did have one _doozy_ of a headache. He examined his surroundings, taking note of the damage and checking on his companions, who, like him, were beginning to collect themselves.

"Did anyone catch that thing's license plate?"

The only response he got was a few scattered groans. Piper picked herself off the ground and weaved through the carnage to get a look at the sky. "It's gone," she sighed, relieved. "Whatever it was, it's gone, thank goodness."

"That's all _very_ well and good," Stork drawled, looking out into the mist through one of the cracked-but-more-or-less-intact side windows. "But it looks like something _else_ is just _arriving_." Slowly moving through the fog and ash, several large shapes were advancing on the Condor.

"Not just something…a _lot _of something. And hey! I think they're _doggies_!" Junko clapped his hands excitedly. "Maybe they're lost! Can we keep them?"

Piper didn't answer, just squinted at the dog-things heading towards them. The closer they got and the more she could see, the less she wanted to. After a time, there were close enough that everyone could see them fairly well.

There was a pack of at least twenty, and as far as Piper could tell, there were four distinct types, all frighteningly large. The one thing they had in common, however, was that they were all skinned and apparently rotting.

She swallowed hard and went for her notebook and a pencil, quietly sifting through the mess until she found them. Holding her hand steady, she began to write.

_Ship's Log – Land Inhabitants of Unknown Terra_

_4 types, canine in nature, skinless and in various stages of decay, all with unusually long and sharp claws._

_Type 1 – Tan in color, leathery in texture. It is skeletal thin, and its mouth opens much too wide, as if its cheeks have been cut. _

_Type 2 – Same general body type and color as Type 1, but, much like the creature that attacked the Condor, the head appears to be made of worms._

_Type 3 – Patches of brown fur still exist, but is for the most part skinless. Skin is cracked, almost mummified in appearance, and in some places raw. No visible eyes, extremely long and whip-like tongue. _

_Type 4 – Possibly the most disturbing. Its head is split in two, and the halves move independently of each other. Its entire body is wrapped in "bandages" that seem to be strips of flesh._

Finn, Stork, and Junko, moved to stand silently next to Piper. Stork was the one who break the quiet.

"They're _horrible,_" he murmured reverently, eyes shining with adoration. "Absolutely _gruesome_. I imagine they'll eviscerate us and slowly eat us alive." He clasped his hands together gleefully at the prospect.

"Hey, guys? Aren't dead things supposed to…you know…_stay_ that way?" Junko asked.

Finn shuddered. "I guess nobody gave them the memo."

**Guh. Despite being four and a half pages, I feel like I haven't actually written anything. I dunno. Maybe the plot is just moving too slowly for my taste. You tell me, did anything actually happen in this chapter, other than general confusion? Grrrr….**

**Here's what to google if you want to see the Silent Hill dogs: Groaner, Worm Head, Sniffer Dog, Double Head.**


	4. Chapter 4

The dogs circled, but kept their distance. Piper inhaled sharply as a chorus of chilling, unearthly howls drifted towards them through the mist. Swallowing hard, she looked out through the cracked windows of their downed craft--the Condor had landed in front of what appeared to be a rundown school building, judging by the sign in front of it that read _Midwich Elementary School _in fading letters. It wasn't in the best of shape, but it would probably provide better shelter then the remains of the Storm Hawks' beloved carrier.

"Everybody, grab your weapons. We're going to have to relocate."

Stork nearly broke his neck as he whirled around to stare at her. "Are you completely _heartless_? We can't just leave the Condor out here with those…those _things_! She _needs_ us! We have to—"

"Guys! They're moving in!" Finn shouted.

"…We, uh…we have to…" He trailed off, staring at the oncoming hell-hounds. "…_Leave_." Stork finished, deciding that survival was more important than loyalty. In his head, he could hear the Condor's anguished cries of "Traitor!"

There was a scramble as everyone began to frantically dig through the rubble, desperate to arm themselves. Junko set his jaw as found his Knuckle Busters, watching the others while they kept searching. Looking out at the dogs, he could see that despite the slow stalk at which they were advancing, they were uncomfortably close and gaining ground. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out through the empty frame that used to hold the front windshield.

Finn jerked his head up at the sound of glass crunching underfoot. "Dude? _Dude!_ What the heck do you think you're _doing_?!"

The Wallop didn't even turn around. "Keep looking for your stuff, 'kay guys?" And without another word, he made a flying leap straight for the lead dog.

---------------------DOOM---------------------

Dark Ace met his former mentor's stern gaze, unblinking and unfazed. It upset her, he could tell—there was a time when a glare from Mamaji would have had him sheepishly staring at the floor, ready to cooperate. In a way, he wished those times had never passed. Never the less, he continued to meet her eyes, and eventually Mamaji looked away. Well, _that _was a first.

"Play…" She repeated. "I must admit, I'm quite curious to know what you mean. Would you care to explain?" It was more of a demand than a question. Mamji tended to have a rather imperious air about her, but then, when you got to be her age, he supposed it was hard _not_ to.

And yet, Dark Ace felt his good will evaporating. Mamaji was someone he'd never expected to see again, never _wanted _to see again. She was a part of his life that was over now, and she had no business showing up out of the blue like this, demanding answers. And while that might be irrational and ungrateful of him, Ace was quite certain that he didn't actually _care_. He looked away from her.

"I owe you a lot of things, old woman. An explanation isn't one of them."

He heard, rather than saw her recoil. He'd hurt her feelings. Well, boo-hoo. She was a big girl, she could take it. He sighed mentally, unsure of why he found himself so suddenly hostile. Okay, that was a lie—he knew _exactly_ why, but he preferred not to think of himself as being that insecure. How hard could it be to explain the game that he played with Aerrow?

In his head, it was all quite simple. Being the best warrior in Atmos for such a long time got boring rather quickly. After all, where was the fun in fighting if you knew you were going to win every time? Sure, he was fighting for his country, his family, his friends, but despite all that, he found the constant victories to be … well, lacking, somehow. Hollow.

He felt hollow.

After revenging himself on the original Storm Hawks, he had hoped he would find fulfillment, some sort of peace in knowing that his mother's sacrifice had not been in vain. Instead, he'd felt just as empty as the day Mamaji had brought him and his father the bad news—and his mother's lifeless, broken body. And empty was how he had remained, day in and day out, unchanging and unfeeling.

Then, one day, there was Aerrow. Aerrow, who was practically a _child_who had appeared like a God-send to rescue him from the boredom, the tedium, the god-awful numbness. That very first battle on Atmosia, Ace had clearly won, there was no question. But as he sped back to Cyclonia, crystal in hand, he had the distinct and delightful feeling that he had not _truly_ won, that the battle was far from over and that there may yet be a worthy opponent who could provide some sort of challenge. Some sort of relief.

Lo and behold, Ace had been right. Admittedly, there were quite a few battles that he had lost on purpose—the one on Snipe's ridiculous battle ship was the most recent one that came to mind. To be quite honest, Dark Ace went out of his way to make sure Aerrow was never captured, never too seriously injured.

With him gone, who would Ace play with?

--------------DOOM----------------

Junko's fist slammed into the pack leader's head with a sickening _thunk_. The sensation was similar to tenderizing a steak, the thought of which, combined with the deathly stench of rotten flesh given off by the dog, was enough to make him gag a little. The creature yiped and cried out piteously at the blow, so much so that Junko actually stepped away from the animal and began to apologize, thinking that he'd misunderstood the dog's intentions after all.

The dog then chose this opportunity to try and tear out the well-intentioned Wallop's throat, confirming Junko's original assessment: Dead DoggiesBAD.

Thinking quickly, Junko batted it away with a closed fist, hitting it with such force that the head actually separated from the body while spattering Junko with gore. He gagged again—despite being the team bruiser, he was not used to killing things, much less _already_ _dead_ things. He could taste bile rising in his throat as he watched the now headless body twitch and kick a bit before falling still, blood gently seeping from its stump of a neck.

Reeling a bit, he stumbled back just in time to avoid the next monster-dog, which had launched itself at him with teeth bared and claws extended. It hit the ground and skidded to a halt, rapidly changing direction and coming around for another try. This time, it hit its mark before Junko had time to turn and face it, striking his back bringing him to the ground with brutal savagery. He screamed as he felt teeth rip into his collarbone. From the corner of his eye, he saw the other dogs slowly come forward, circling like sharks.

He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable snap of teeth and the blackness beyond.

Instead, he got a frying pan.

There was a whine from the dog on top of him as it shook its head, a bit woozy from the unexpected impact. It was caught off guard as it was hit again, not by a pan this time, but a thunder arrow. Letting out a disturbingly human shriek, the beast fled. A few well-aimed blasts from a crystal staff convinced the rest of the pack that this was a wise course of action. Turning over on his back Junko was now able to see his saviors and fellow Storm Hawks, armed with their weapon of choice (Stork, of course, being decked out with various cooking implements and a ducky inner tube).

Finn stepped forward and offered a hand, grinning as he pulled his best friend to his feet. "_Dude_," he said, patting Junko on the shoulder. "You better thank your lucky stars you've got the Finn-meister watching your back."

Junko agreed whole-heartedly.

**Oh noes! My poor, sweet Junko, I put you in danger! sob ** **Never again, I say! Never again! **

…**Well…**

**At least not until the next chapter, anyway…**


End file.
